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The 2023 SAFF Women's International Friendly Tournament was the 2nd edition of the SAFF Women's International Friendly Tournament organized by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF). Taif was selected as the host city by the SAFF Women's Football Committee in September 2023. On 21 August 2023, the SAFF confirmed that the tournament would take place between 18 and 30 September 2023.[1]
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country |  Saudi Arabia |
| Dates | 18–30 September |
| Teams | 6 (from 3 sub-confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 1 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Lebanon (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Bhutan |
| Third place |  Malaysia |
| Fourth place | Saudi Arabia |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 11 |
| Goals scored | 16 (1.45 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Lili Iskandar (3 goals) |
| Best player(s) | Deki Lhazom |
| Best goalkeeper | Nurul Azurin binti |
The competition saw an expansion of participating teams from four in the first edition to six in this edition.[2]
Saudi Arabia were the defending champions having won last edition in Khobar, but were eliminated in the semi-finals by Bhutan after extra time.[3] Lebanon were crowned champions for the first time after defeating Bhutan 1–0, also after extra time.[4]
The second SAFF Women's International Friendly Tournament featured teams from six different nations, representing three Asian regional sub-confederations: WAFF (West Asia), SAFF (South Asia), and AFF (ASEAN).[5]
Qualified teams
The following six teams participated in the tournament:
| Team | Appearance | Last appearance |
FIFA Ranking[a] | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | 2nd | 2023 (Khobar) | 172th | Champions (2023 (Khobar)) |
| Bhutan | 1st | N/A | 169th | Debut |
 Laos | 1st | N/A | 87th | Debut |
| Lebanon | 1st | N/A | 137th | Debut |
| Malaysia | 1st | N/A | 89th | Debut |
 Pakistan[6] | 2nd | 2023 (Khobar) | 157th | Runners-up (2023 (Khobar)) |
All the matches of the tournament are being held exclusively at the King Fahd Stadium in Taif.[7]
| Taif | |
|---|---|
| King Fahd Sports City | |
| Capacity: 20,000 |
The tournament follows a group-stage format, where the six competing teams were drawn into two groups of three. The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals. Meanwhile, the third-placed teams from both groups play in a match to determine the 5th place. The winners of the semi-finals secure a spot in the final, while the defeated teams face off for third place.[8]
All times are local, SAST (UTC+03:00).
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saudi Arabia (H) |
2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 4 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Malaysia |
2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 3 | Pakistan |
2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 1 |
Source: SAFF
(H) Hosts
(H) Hosts
| Pakistan | 0–1 | Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lebanon |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Bhutan |
2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 1 | |
| 3 | Laos |
2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 1 |
Source: SAFF
| Laos | 1–4 | Lebanon |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
Referee: Nodira Mirzoeva (Tajikistan)
Referee: Shahenda El Maghrabi (Egypt)
| 5th place | ||
| 28 September – Taif | ||
| Pakistan | 1 (4) | |
| Laos | 1 (2) | |
Fifth place match
Referee: Nodira Mirzoeva (Tajikistan)
- In the knockout stage, extra-time and a penalty shoot-out will be used to decide the winner if necessary.
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 27 September – Taif | ||||||
| Saudi Arabia | 0 | |||||
| 30 September – Taif | ||||||
| Bhutan (a.e.t.) | 1 | |||||
| Bhutan | 0 | |||||
| 27 September – Taif | ||||||
| Lebanon (a.e.t.) | 1 | |||||
| Lebanon (p) | 0 (4) | |||||
| Malaysia | 0 (3) | |||||
| Third Place match | ||||||
| 30 September – Taif | ||||||
| Saudi Arabia | 0 | |||||
| Malaysia | 1 | |||||
Semi-finals
| Saudi Arabia | 0–1 (a.e.t.) | Bhutan |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Referee: Nodira Mirzoeva (Tajikistan)
Referee: Khuloud AlZaabi (United Arab Emirates)
Third-place match
| Saudi Arabia | 0–1 | Malaysia |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Final
| Bhutan | 0–1 | Lebanon |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Referee: Nodira Mirzoeva (Tajikistan)
There were 16 goals scored in 11 matches, for an average of 1.45 goals per match.
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Yesney Bidha
Chinda Sihalath- Chaikham Xayapaserd
Zahwa Arabi- Samira Awad
- Cecile Iskandar
- Waed Raed
- Syntia Salha
Steffi Sarge Kaur
Zulfia Shah
Al Bandari Hawsawi
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